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There are at least 7 active large fires burning in California, which has so far covered around 97,500 acres. The National Weather Service issued its first-ever “Extreme Red Flag Warning” on Tuesday evening local time amid the ongoing blazes, with Santa Ana winds that “could be one of the strongest of recent memory” for most of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. In recent months, the Trump administration has routinely targeted the homeless communities in San Francisco and Los Angeles as California continues to burn....

John Darnielle, lead singer of American indie/folk rock band The Mountain Goats, has turned his lyrical talents towards a rather unique topic: Nintendo’s 2017 open world role playing game, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Darnielle improvised a song while watching his son play Breath of the Wild by creating the lyrics while accompanying himself on the piano. His son, who seemed deeply engrossed in the game, did not respond....

It is not just the MS Dhoni failures that are the concern but rather its Rishabh Pant’s success on the international scaffold that is fretting Indian selectors and management. In the recently concluded Test match between India and Windies, Rishabh scored an expeditious 92, missing out on his second back-to-back hundred. Most former players and experts have been bidding for Rishabh Pant in ODIs even if MS Dhoni plays in the side....

At the moment no one knows what’s causing the strange condition, let alone whether it’s transmissible through blood and other body fluids. Because many of the patients report risk factors, such as needle-sharing or unprotected sex-and because their malady runs the same course as HIV disease-many experts suspect an infectious agent is at work. But there’s no evidence that a new agent is spreading rapidly, or that the blood supply is in immediate danger....

Nothing, it turns out. Or rather, Schmidt and her friends are high on “New Age raves,” an underground movement that blends the healthiest elements of raves–electronic music and dance marathons–with yoga, meditation and other spiritual rites. Drugs and alcohol are strictly forbidden. All the people at this event, sponsored by a group called Body Temple, are looking for a Saturday-night party where they can lose themselves without taking anything more potent than a shot of blue-algae juice....

Anthrax scares, which often trigger hugely expensive emergency responses by police, fire and public-health officials, are fast becoming a favored tactic for those with scores to settle or grudges to act out. And while some of the 100-plus hoaxes in the last year seem to be no more than disturbing variations on the old-fashioned bomb threat, incidents like the one in Kansas City are believed to be part of a concerted effort to disrupt patient services at abortion clinics and women’s health centers all across the country....

The deal, rumored for at least 18 months, may be the first round of a possible banking merger mania. Beset by new competition and hit hard by bad Third World loans and shaky real estate portfolios, bankers increasingly view consolidation as a way of paring costs and eliminating wasteful overcapacity. Regional banks are also on the grow: last month, C&S/Sovran Corp. of Atlanta and NCNB Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., confirmed they were engaged in merger talks....

The “hot” sessions were booked up early, and someone like Sidney Poitier felt lucky to squeeze into the back of “The Root Cause of Conflict.” Others scrambled for the most coveted invitations for private bashes like the Lehman Brothers’ Elton John concert at the Four Seasons restaurant. Just about everyone stood endlessly in line to pick up his freebie combination handheld computer and e-mail gizmo. Outside, protesters denounced the “World Exploitation Forum....

Even though a sequel to Bloodborne is highly unlikely, it is not entirely out of the question, but with the way the canon ending of the original game left the story, the second entry could risk drastically affecting the near-perfect ending of Bloodborne. That being said, the lore heavily focuses on what happened in the past that led to the current events of Yharnam but never fully delves into the details of the past....

In completing the long-reported deal, Los Blancos bolstered an already impressive collection of young players on their books, with the club’s future planning seemingly second to none in world football. In Eder Militao, Federico Valverde, Luka Jovic, Brahim Diaz, Rodrygo Goes, Vinicius Junior, Takefusa Kubo, Achraf Hakimi, Sergio Reguilon, Martin Odegaard and now Reinier, Madrid boast a remarkable amount of under-23 talent. Reinier completed his switch the day after his 18th birthday and, while his price tag appears hefty, it actually led to friction within Flamengo – coach Jorge Jesus accusing the club of not being able to value their players, a comment vice-president Marcos Braz subsequently shut down....

For the longest time, west Germans caricatured Jammerossis, or “whining Easties,” as slothful parasites collecting welfare checks. But stories like Neubert’s are increasingly disproving this old cliche. True, the east is still the economic black hole of Germany, with double the national employment rate and sucking in subsidies of 100 billion euros a year. But it’s easy to be deceived by the gloom. All across the old swath of the GDR, easterners are displaying a get-up-and-go spirit of entrepreneurship and hard work that few would have thought possible a decade ago....

Next season the resurgent Islanders will move into the state-of-the-art facility from Long Island’s dilapidated Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The NBA’s Nets moved to Brooklyn from New Jersey in 2012 to challenge the Knicks in their own back yard. MORE: Graphic Comments | One fan has fond memories of Coliseum parking lot | Isles player takes selfie with clueless fan Like the Nets, the Islanders will have to build a new fan base under the shadow of a long-established competitor....

Noble Esports’ initial North American Valorant roster was formed during the first week of September, primarily with former Prospects members. The team then consisted of Belal “FGB” Ahmad, Howard “Tetchra” Lebright, Tim “root” Dalton, Shawn “Shawn12590” O’Riley and Jason “jmoh” Mohandessi. However, for the NA First Strike NSG Qualifiers, the team consisted of just Tyti, FGB and Tetchra (already signed by the org), who were joined by Sofa and Osias (not signed by the org)....

Its apparent absence left many wondering why Oppo chose to split up its launches like this, especially when the company was clearly willing to bring its new flagship phones to the world stage, not to mention the ongoing teasing of the smartwatch that had been pushed out across various social media channels in the weeks running up to launch. So what gives? As far as Oppo is concerned, this was always the plan....

But when the economy slows and threatens to go into recession, it’s usually bad for all classes of real estate. And despite President Bush’s measured happy talk on the economy earlier this week, indicators are rising that American consumers are keeling over from exhaustion. Shoppers unwilling to shop spells trouble for the tenants of malls and strip malls - and for their owners and lenders. All of which suggests: Get ready for the ghost mall!...

Well this time around, in the middle of another oil boom, President Bush asked many states and districts for their vote—and they still didn’t deliver. To add insult to injury, the commander in chief was forced to hand another triumph to the Democrats on Wednesday: the removal of controversial Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld from office. President Bush’s personal performance will be one of many difficult questions posed for him and Republicans in post-election analyses in the days and weeks ahead....

Patrick Quah of Giant Squid describes The Pathless as “a mythic adventure game.” The studio aimed to put together a new game that not only gives players a beautiful world to explore, but the experience of bonding with a bird of prey, just like falconers who still hunt small game today. RELATED: GTA Online Getting Standalone Release for PS5 and Xbox Series X The trailer was released in December of 2018, and even back then it was gorgeous....

These games aren’t new, but they’re perfect for tiding fans over until they get their hands on the next game in the franchise. Perhaps more importantly, the Persona ports are the ideal addition to the current 25th anniversary celebration for the franchise. Persona’s 25th birthday hasn’t been as spectacular as fans were hoping, but the ports kick things into high gear, even if they won’t necessarily release within the window of the anniversary....

I first met Mao in 1972 during President Nixon’s historic trip, which took place 25 years ago last week, and I saw him four more times over the course of the next three years. From 1974 to 1989, I met with Deng at least once a year. I watched as, together, they transformed China, Deng undoing but also building on Mao’s legacy. Mao destroyed traditional China and cleared the way for its ultimate modernization....

‘The Return of the King’: In the dazzling, impassioned finale of the Middle-earth trilogy, the reluctant leader Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) rises to confront a final assault by Sauron’s evil army, while a pair of hobbits, Frodo and Sam (Elijah Wood and Sean Astin), continue their quest to destroy an all-powerful ring. New Zealand’s Peter Jackson launched his career with ultragory horror flicks such as 1992’s “Dead Alive.” His critical breakthrough came in 1994 with the mesmerizing drama “Heavenly Creatures,” starring newcomer Kate Winslet....